Increasingly, general-purpose computers, such as desktop and laptop computers, are being used during audio telecommunication sessions, such as telephony, voice chat, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing sessions. In one arrangement, an existing system uses a computer to control conferencing operations (directly or indirectly, for example through a Web site), to present slides, to make notes available to the participants, etc. In another arrangement, the computer actually implements the functions of a conferencing or telephony system by processing audio signals from microphones, encoding and decoding audio, generating output to loudspeakers or earpieces, etc.
Because computers are being increasingly used, one of the participants will often be typing on the computer keyboard during the communication session. Typing on the keyboard usually generates noise that is perceived as objectionable, annoying, and distracting during a conversation. These typing noises are picked up by the conferencing equipment's microphone(s) and sent to the far end participants. The problem with these typing noises can be particularly acute when the microphone is physically attached to or part of the computer used for desktop conferencing or when the microphone is positioned on the same surface as the computer. In these situations, there may be strong mechanical and acoustic coupling between the computer keyboard and the microphone such that loud keyboard noises may be transmitted to the far-end.
Consequently, there is a need for a method or apparatus for reducing noise generated by a participant typing on a computer keyboard during a communication session.